2012 Taiwan Tour

by Stoma

Weekend workshop on Kundalini and the Cakras

Swami Ritavan Bharati, Ashutosh Sharma and Stoma (Dr. Stephen Parker) arrived in Taipei, Taiwan, May 10th for a weekend workshop on Kundalini and the Cakras May 12th and 13th. There were 90 attendees including three Buddhist monks, one of whom organized the trip that Tinyu Chen, Wong Yoong Khiang, and Swami Ritavan took to Mt. Kailasha last fall.

There were a variety of lectures on Kundalini as Shakti, the cakra system and its relationship to emotional purification, an array of meditations, subtle body practices and a transcendent hatha-yoga flow class by Ashutosh.

The workshop closed with a long question and answer session that sought to remedy some of the misconceptions about this system of practice and tried to make the point that we learn our practices of asceticism by enjoyment through concentration and relaxation of effort, not by escalating self- denial and struggle.

One of the highlights of the seminar was the participation of a group of deaf students and three sign language interpreters. One of the participants was the anchor for the evening news for the deaf on Taiwan Public Television. It was sometimes a challenge to figure out how to answer questions about mantras for those who are without physical hearing, but they managed to do so. At the end of the seminar the faculty took an extra hour to answer their questions specifically. Six new initiations were done during the seminar.

A new Chinese language Teacher Training Program

On May 14th a new Chinese language Teacher Training Program was started, lasting Monday-Friday, May 14-18 and May 21-25. There were 20 participants, 5 of whom were completing their third level of training in preparation for final certification.

On the last day, Shi Hong from Hong Kong joined Swami Ritavan for the conclusion of the program after Stoma and Ashutosh had departed. We hope to nurture this Chinese language teacher training program in future years for all the Chinese speaking people in East Asia. Several initiations were also conducted during the second week of the training.

Seminar on Yoga Nidra

On the weekend in-between, the faculty took a fast train to Tainan City, Taiwan, for a seminar on Yoga Nidra. The site was a youth camp of the Chinese Youth Corps, a leadership training and social support organization which uses yoga prominently in its work with youth. CYC has actively supported all of our programs in Taiwan.

Stoma introduced the idea of Yoga Nidra as a practice, discussed Yoga Nidra as self-healing and stress management and its relationship to Yoga Nidra.

Swami Ritavan taught a graduated series of practica in different relaxation practices. On the first day Ashutosh taught a long flow asana class, and on the second day Ashutosh and Stoma taught the solar salutation with bija mantras, leading a class through 36 repetitions. After 24 repetitions they felt moved to allow the recitation of the mantras to become silent and people followed just as well.

Three initiations were done with local people and with one workshop member who is an American teaching English in Cheng Du in Mainland China.

During the workshop there was abundant, warm rain and the surrounding hills were decked with ragged clouds. Everyone bloomed.